The present invention relates to railway track assemblies and more particularly, to embedded railway track assemblies.
Railway track assemblies typically employ a pair of steel rails supported by a plurality of perpendicularly disposed ties which rest on a ballast material. Often it is desirous to embed the railway tracks so that the top surface of the rails are substantially the same height as the finish grade of the surrounding surface.
When rails are embedded in a surrounding surface, gaps must exist between the rail and the surrounding surface. These gaps permit the wheels of the rail guided vehicle to pass along the rails without obstruction. These gaps also prevent the surrounding surface from contacting the rails, due to construction tolerances or shifting of the surrounding surface area, thereby moving the rails into an unusable out-of-alignment position.
The existence of gaps between a rail and a surrounding surface area causes many problems. One such problem is the possibility of a foreign object becoming wedged in the gap and presenting an obstacle for vehicles traveling along the rail system. Another problem with embedded rail systems is the accumulation and flow of fluids and foreign objects in between the rail and the surrounding surface. These fluids or foreign objects can damage the railway crossing system, such as the ballast, ties, attaching hardware, etc.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for embedded railway track systems which help prevent foreign objects and/or materials from passing between the rail and the surrounding surface.